Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), says President Bola Tinubu’s administration is supportive of autonomy for local government areas in the country.

Mr Akume said this during the ministerial press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja to mark Mr Tinubu’s one-year anniversary in office.

The SGF said that Mr Tinubu was committed to the rules of law and the constitution of the country and had also shown good faith in true fiscal federalism since he assumed office.

Mr Akume assured that the administration would continue from where the previous government stopped regarding the autonomy of the local governments.

“On the need for national dialogue for local government autonomy, I think that the National Assembly has done quite a lot on that issue.

“I remember the last administration also came up with some executive orders to enhance the independence of the local governments and the national assembly is very supportive of that.

“The present government is also supportive of that; we believe strongly too that we will continue to improve on the question of autonomy for the local government areas in Nigeria.”

According to him, the present administration has recognised the fact that local government areas are the closest tier of government to the people at the grassroots in particular.

“In a typical federal setup, you have tiers of governments and these tiers of governments are also independent.

“One of them has access to the federation account, which goes to each state and it is under the control of the governors of those states and the legislators of that state.

“The money going to the state was supposed to be applied prudently and efficiently for the benefit of the people. It is true that the bulk of people live at the state and local government levels,” he said.

According to him, the purpose of sharing the nation’s wealth is to ensure that the welfare of the people is enhanced.

The SGF, however, commended some state governors for their efforts at ensuring that people at the grassroots felt the impacts of government through ‘people-oriented projects’.

“I want to state here that many of the states are also doing their best for the people and therefore, we will continue to give governors the chance to do their best for their people.

“I am aware that people feel they are not doing their best; the legislators are also there to ensure that people feel the impacts of governance at the local government levels,” he said.

(NAN)